Rukia's Twelve Days of Christmas
by Ryu-Takehshi
Summary: Karakura High is on their way to a ski resort in another town for a twelve day trip ending on Christmas. But between snowboarding, skating, and the occasional hollow; how will Rukia handle all of it, and still give her gift to her special person?IchiXRuki
1. Day One: On Our Way

Rukia's Twelve Days of Christmas

Anime: Bleach

Written By: Ryu-Takehshi

Prologue: 12/13/09

Rukia stared hard at the snowflakes gently falling on the other side of the frosted window pane; like little white spots that lit up the black of night, almost as brightly as the moon. She watched one slowly drift and stick to the window in front of her. Her mouth opened in surprise and her heated breath fogged up the window and instantly melted it away; causing the shinigami girl to smile slightly.

"_Snow, huh…?" _she thought,_ "I really like the rain in the world of the living… I wonder if snow here is any different…"_

'It's colder…' her mind answered; in the same annoying tone of voice that she would expect from a certain orange-haired boy.

"What're you staring at…?"

Rukia looked up; that voice didn't come from her mind. She turned her attention from the window, only to see the certain orange-haired boy in question giving her an inquisitive look.

"Do they not have snow in the Soul Society?" he remarked as Rukia moved off of his bed and towards the closet.

"Of course there is…" was her only answer.

"Anyway," Ichigo began as he climbed into his bed and Rukia opened the closet door. "You _are_ coming on the trip tomorrow, right?"

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I…?" she shrugged.

"Not a chance…" he smirked as he pulled his blanket over his head.

Rukia rolled her eyes as she checked to make sure her travel bag was completely stocked and ready for tomorrow. Finally, she too, climbed into her small closet bed and slowly drifted to sleep.

Day One: 12/14/09

Come morning, Rukia awoke to a bitter cold and hugged onto her blanket.

"Alright, I get it; it's cold!" she replied to the voice in her mind, forcing herself out of bed.

In mid-yawn, she sleepily slid open the closet door and was about to take a step out when a strong hand pushed back inside and slammed the door in her face.

She was just about to yell something like: _"Ichigo, what the hell?!"_ or _"What kind of stupid thing are you trying to do this early in the morning, you idiot?!"_ But, a voice stopped her; not the voice in her mind, nor Ichigo's. It was Yuzu and Karin's voices that caused Rukia to stop herself from yelling, and gave her a chance to change into her uniform inside the closet as she listened in on their conversation.

"Could you guys hurry up?" Ichigo sighed. "I've gotta get going to school. You guys know I have a trip today!"

Rukia laughed quietly, she could still hear the lingering shake of panic in his voice from hiding her so quickly, which was one of the only upsides (for her) in getting pushed back into the closet every time one of Ichigo's relatives came up.

"We know Ichi-nii," Yuzu's voice answered, "That's why we're asking for dad's present money now. You'll still be on your trip on Christmas Day, right?"

"Besides, you're never around after school, so you probably haven't even gotten around to buying it yet." Karin added.

"Fine, here…" Ichigo muttered. Rukia could hear the reluctance in his voice and the rustling of paper money being taken out of his wallet and handed off to his little sisters.

"Thanks bro!" Karin said happily.

"Have a good trip Ichi-nii!" Yuzu beamed as Rukia heard the twins step out of his room and run down the stairs.

"Alright Rukia, they're gone." Ichigo called.

The door slid open as Rukia stepped out, fully dressed and packed. She straightened out her uniform then, turned and gave Ichigo a stare as cold as the weather outside of the house.

"Thanks for the warning, by the way!" She smiled sarcastically as she opened the window.

"Rukia…" Ichigo began.

She turned towards him, only to get hit in the face with an extremely thick, soft, furry, blue… something.

"Wear a jacket out there, or you might die…" he paused for a moment then, laughed to himself, "again…"

Rukia rolled her eyes as she pulled her arms into the jacket and zipped it up. "There! Are you happy now?" she remarked as she jumped from the window.

"See you at school Ichigo!"

When she was gone, it was Ichigo's turn to roll his eyes as he closed the window.

"Geez… she's just like a little kid!" he muttered as he, himself, began on his way to school.

As he approached the high school grounds, he was welcomed by Rukia's classically smug smile and Renji's annoying remarks; it wasn't exactly the _best_ way to be welcomed to school, but what could he do?

"Man… you're late Ichigo." Renji mocked.

"Yeah well, what do I care?" he shrugged as the three boarded the bus, "Whether I come after you or not doesn't change the fact that we're all ending up in the same place."

"You're not an early morning person, are you?" Renji laughed as he took his seat behind Ichigo and Rukia.

"Are you implying that _you are_?!" Ichigo asked in disbelief as he stared at the dark bags under his rival's eyes.

"Quiet both of you…" Rukia muttered in an annoyed tone as she rested her head on the window. "Don't make me use any binding spells on either of you."

"What's up with her?" Renji wondered.

Ichigo smiled, "What, Rukia? She's just pissed that I made her put on a jacket this morning."

"Shut up…" Rukia sighed, her eyelids half closed as she stared blankly out at the snowflakes. "I wouldn't have minded the cold anyway. I didn't need a jacket."

"You would've been frozen by the time you made it to school." Ichigo pointed out.

"You really want me to put you in a binding spell, don't you?" she threatened, completely ending the conversation.

By the end of this extremely long drive to a ski resort some towns away, every student slowly, but surely checked into their hotel rooms; and thus ended Rukia's first day.

* * *

"And thus ended Rukia's first day…"

Yeah, I didn't know what I was thinking either. I procrastinate _a lot_, which is why I'm trying to finish a twelve-day fanfic in three days. Well, actually its 12 midnight on the 23rd so I guess that makes it two days. Anyway, to be honest, I don't even know where I'm going with this fanfic so please try and bear with it! See you in the next chapter! ~Ryu-Takehshi


	2. Day Two: The Snowball War

Okay, I guess it was inevitable that I wasn't going to have all twelve day-chapters done by the 25 (yes, I'm an idiot for trying…) So, let's just say I started on the 25 (give or take a few days). My deadline will now be on: January 5, my annoying nii-sama's (brother's) birthday (yay??)! Well, anyway… back to the story…

* * *

Day Two: 12/15/09

Each group of students was assigned a lodge with five separate rooms, two bathrooms, a small kitchen and den; (Ichigo's dad and Uruhara nearly screamed at the cost for Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji).

In Rukia's group were Ichigo, Renji, Tatsuki and Orihime. Originally, Ichigo was in a group with Keigo and Mizuiro, but he had repeatedly complained that he spent too much time with them as is.

Ichigo was aware that there was an opening in Rukia and Renji's group after Chizuru had suddenly backed out of the trip (because of a head injury, apparently). The majority of people in that group _were_ people he could handle, (save Renji, of course).

"At least it's another shinigami, and not that soul reaper-hating Ichida…" he reasoned with himself, "And Rukia, Tatsuki, and Inoe are there. What's the worst that could happen?"

Rukia had been resistant to the trip from the start, as if she was being forced to go, despite Renji, Tatsuki, and Orihime's attempts to rationalize it. But, when Ichigo joined her group, no one, not even her self, could explain why she suddenly seemed so set on going. (But, you could probably guess why.)

"Good morning Kuchiki-san!" Orihime beamed.

Rukia rubbed her eye sleepily and turned to smile faintly, "Yeah, good morning Inoe."

"Tatsuki is making eggs for everyone! I think Abarai-san is still sleeping and Kurosaki-kun is taking a shower." Orihime went on as Rukia, half-listening, was taking in her surroundings.

The kitchen took up half of the space in the room, and the den, the other half. The kitchen had a marble counter with five bar stools, a stove, a dishwasher and sink, and a bunch of cabinets and drawers. The den had two couches and three cushion chairs, all velvet red, surrounding a wooden coffee table; and a fireplace off in the corner.

Rukia felt a hand holding the top of her head and turned, glaring at Ichigo and his dripping wet orange hair.

"Are you still asleep or something?" he asked as he walked around her and sat on a bar stool. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh! Good morning Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime smiled as she handed him a plate with scrambled eggs and two sausages on it. "Kuchiki-san, there's one here for you too!"

Rukia blinked as she snapped back to reality and took a seat next to Ichigo. "Where'd the food come from?" she wondered.

Tatsuki came, holding two more plates. "The teachers dropped it off last night, but you, Ichigo and Abarai were already sleeping in your rooms; so Orihime and I put them in the fridge before we went to bed.

"You should've woken me up," Rukia mentioned as she stuffed her mouth with a spoonful of scrambled eggs, "I would've helped out."

"Too late now…" Tatsuki shrugged as she and Orihime began to eat, "But, thanks for the offer."

The sound of footsteps could be heard, slowly making their way down the hallway.

Rukia leaned back with the fork still in her mouth. "_Mm… Good Mrning Rnji_…" Orihime and Tatsuki laughed.

"Take the fork out of your mouth first!" Ichigo remarked as he pulled it from her mouth and handed it back to her. He turned to Renji, "Nice of you to finally wake up."

Renji, who was still fixing his ponytail, looked at Ichigo for a moment, and then, down to the food in front of him before beginning to eat. As soon as he put his hands down to pick up his cutlery, however, his ponytail dropped and his hair went down, causing the whole table to laugh.

"Dammit…" he muttered, taking a spoonful of eggs before trying to fix it again.

"What're we supposed to be doing today?" Orihime asked, after awhile.

"Today the teachers are supposed to be ironing out the itinerary," Tatsuki answered. "And we'll find out about it tomorrow. The real fun begins after that!"

"So it's a free day today?" Ichigo wondered. "What should we do?"

"How about a fight…?" Renji offered.

"You mean a _snowball_ fight?" Tatsuki rephrased.

"Is that what I meant…?" Renji asked again, thinking it over.

"A snowball fight would be better…" Rukia nodded at Renji, "Then what you're thinking of, Renji."

He shrugged, "Alright, whatever… Let's go!"

The five ran to their rooms to get their gear and all met in the front foyer. "Hey Ichigo…!" Rukia called.

"What is it…?" As he turned to face her, his jacket hit him in the face.

"Wear a jacket!" she mimicked him as she contently walked away. "You might die!"

Ichigo smirked, putting it on, "Payback, huh?"

Rukia nodded as the five walked outside, "At least you can understand _that_ much!"

"We should make teams!" Tatsuki suggested, "Like boys versus girls!"

"I don't wanna be on Renji's team…" Ichigo complained, "He'll end up throwing the snowballs at me."

"Yeah, well, I'm not too crazy about being on your team either!" Renji argued.

Rukia sighed, "Fine! Renji's on Inoe and Arisawa's team and Ichigo and I are a team, happy?"

The three nodded as they went to find a suitable spot for a base, leaving Ichigo and Rukia to look for theirs.

"Us as a team, huh…?" Ichigo asked as the two started working on the base.

"I just said what came to mind first." Rukia explained. She turned to him and smiled, "Besides, we make a good team, don't we?"

"Yeah we do…" Ichigo nodded, "So stop giving our fort bunny ears!"

Rukia laughed, "Sorry Ichigo, I'll try my hardest!"

Meanwhile, Renji had suddenly begun to enjoy his team members. _"If it were Rukia or Ichigo…"_ he thought to himself, _"They'd be ticked if I took control of the team, but these two won't care, right? I can become captain for once!"_

"Alright listen up!" Renji started, "I'm taking complete control of our team! I'm the captain alright?"

Unbeknownst to the poor captain, Orihime and Tatsuki had started firing snowballs at Ichigo and Rukia. Renji sighed as he knelt down and began to take fire as well.

The whole day, the five played and played like little kids on the first day of snow; and Rukia's second day ended with five extremely tired and extremely content teenagers sitting around a fire, laughing, with hot chocolate in hand.

* * *

I kind of liked this chapter because it was like: "A day in the life of…" (insert name there). But, of course, just like Tatsuki said, the real fun is when the itinerary is finished, and it's almost that time! ~Ryu-Take


	3. Day Three: The Schedule

I think this chapter will be a little shorter… I don't know, sorry if you were expecting more. I promise to make the next chapter better! Well, here we go…

* * *

Day Three: 12/16/09

The next day, all of the students were called to meet in a giant meeting hall by the teachers.

"Good morning on your second day, students!" Ms. Ochi smiled. "Did you all have fun yesterday?"

The large group of sleep-deprived teens grumbled and Ms. Ochi simply laughed. "Well, whatever! We'll give you your schedules for the next nine days now! And, it's _your _entire fault that you're like this; you chose to stay up last night!"

Ichigo yawned; last night he was up playing cards with Renji. Since one couldn't let the other win, they were up till five before Rukia and Tatsuki separated them and sent them to their rooms.

Ms. Ochi went on, "Tomorrow and the day after, you'll all be learning how to snowboard."

Hitsuguya, who was on the opposite side of the room and was forced to come by Rangiku, looked up; snowboarding was something he could finally look forward to on this trip.

"The next two days after that will be skiing lessons for everyone, just in case you fall on your face too many times during snowboarding!"

The room was silent at Ms. Ochi's attempt at humour. She shrugged it off and continued, "On day seven… or is it eight? Uhh, anyway, everyone will split up into their groups and go on a carriage ride tour of the surrounding area."

"That sounds like fun! Don't you guys think so?" Orihime smiled at Ichigo and Rukia.

"Yeah, a carriage ride, that sounds good." Rukia nodded.

"Mhmm…" Ichigo added, still half-asleep.

"After you're all familiar with the area, you'll have two days to roam around and buy gifts for people, if you haven't done so already."

"Oh…" Rukia and Ichigo muttered in unison, "Crap…"

"After you guys have done that, we'll go skating together. Then, your last day will be Christmas day and you guys can spend it in your cabins giving gifts to one another!"

"Wow…" Tatsuki began, "They actually planned that really well, no wonder they needed a whole day to prepare."

Just then, someone called out, "Ms. Ochi! You forgot to say what we're doing today!"

"Yeah," she laughed, "About that… we planned this itinerary to take effect starting tomorrow, so go off and enjoy your second free day!"

Tatsuki shook her head as their group exited, "I take it back… poor planning on their part."

"But, everything they've planned sounds fun, doesn't it?" Orihime beamed.

"Yeah," Ichigo nodded, "And Toshiro's gonna like the snowboarding and skiing."

"That was obvious to say." Renji muttered, "He's probably fired up right now…"

In reality, Hitsuguya _would_ be fired up, but with Rangiku being in his group, he was forced to 'cool' down.

"Hey… Hey Captain! You're excited about the activities, right?" Rangiku bubbled. "I've never seen what you excited! Is it cute?!"

Hitsuguya continued to ignore her and walked towards his room, closing the door behind him.

"Aww…!" Rangiku pouted, "Captain! You're no fun!"

Meanwhile, Ichigo and his group were continuing on their way towards their cabin.

"I guess I could look forward to skating and the roaming around time too…" Ichigo nodded.

"Oh! I love skating!" Orihime smiled, "I used to fall a lot, but Tatsuki taught me really well! Now I'm not that bad!"

"I'll race you when we get on the ice Ichigo!" Renji challenged, "Unless you're scared to face me!"

"Fine you're on!" Ichigo nodded.

"No backing out at the last minute Mr. Chicken!"

"I was about to say the same to you!"

Rukia sighed. This time not at Ichigo and Renji's usual fighting, but because skating was the thing she wanted to do least. Rukia's third day ended with unexpected sadness…

* * *

For the record, Orihime and Ichigo are also partly at fault for Rukia's sadness. Don't feel bad if you don't understand it yet, it'll make sense soon.

Anyway, I told you, this chapter was incredibly short! ~Ryu-Takehshi


	4. Day Four: The Snowboarding Adventure

Yes! The itinerary is finally finished and it's time to get this story moving! I hope this makes up for the last chapters incredible shortness! And for all Hitsuguya-fans, he'll have much more plot purpose and story-time in the next few chapters. Also, get ready for a HUGE IchixRuki moment! Anyway (again), last time I snowboarded I fell on my face… So, let's see how Rukia and everyone else will do! (Probably better than I did…)

* * *

Day Four: 12/17/09

The next morning was all a blur to Rukia. She remembered waking up and dressing up, but before she knew it, she was standing atop a huge mountain of snow.

"Hey Rukia," she heard Ichigo call, "If you stand in a daze like that, we're gonna leave you behind!"

She turned quickly and ran after her group, "S-sorry… umm, we're going to snowboard today, right?"

"Yeah," Renji nodded, "I can only imagine the look on Toshiro's face right now!"

"Don't be too sure Renji," Rukia remarked, "Just remember that Matsumoto-san is in his group…" In saying this, Rukia knew exactly how right she was.

Everyone was told to go to the shop at the top of the mountain with their groups and choose a rental snowboard, unless they didn't already have one.

Orihime chose a sky blue snowboard with a bright pink butterfly design. Renji chose a deep red one with a green snake running up the length of the board. Tatsuki chose a black one that had a design of being wrapped in white cloth. Rukia choose an all white snowboard with two angel wings on the bottom.

"It'll seem as if I'm flying," she explained to the others.

"That is, if you can keep from falling on your face!" Ichigo laughed.

Though what she said was her 'explanation', the _real_ reason was probably Ichigo; who chose a solid-black snowboard with a red line coming up from the bottom. It was just like everything else the two did; Rukia was _always_ the white on Ichigo's black background.

They all met at the peak of the, for lack of a better word, hill. "You all expected to be boarding down a mountain on your first day?!" Ms. Ochi laughed.

"Well, I did…" Hitsuguya sighed.

"You have to walk before you can run, kids!" Ms. Ochi went on. "We'll get down all of the basics today!"

"Oh God…" Ichigo sighed; just the thought of the word 'basics' gave him a horrible recollection of training with Uruhara.

"Anyway…! Let's all get ready to snowboard!" Ms. Ochi smiled happily.

Hitsuguya walked up to Ichigo and his group. "Hey Toshiro, I haven't seen you all trip!"

"Yeah, that's because Rangiku is so damn annoying and won't let me leave…" he replied, "I told her I'm helping some people learn how to snowboard."

"And what'd she say…?" Rukia wondered.

Hitsuguya sighed, "I think it was along the lines of: 'Aww captain! That's so sweet of you! How come you can't be kind like this _all_ of the time?"

Ichigo's group tried to hold in their laughter as Hitsuguya shook his head. "I would've told her that _she_ was the reason why, or maybe, that it was just in my character; but I wanted to leave as soon as possible…"

"T-Toshiro-san…" Orihime called. She had been so quiet that this was the first time she had spoken since they left the lodge. Everyone looked over, only to see her sitting on the ground. "Toshiro-san, how do I get up?"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes as she helped her stand, "Geez Orihime! Here, I'll help you…"

Orihime wobbled a bit and Tatsuki simply laughed, "You'll get used to it, don't worry! But, we're just walking around now; you don't need to be on your snowboard yet!"

"Oh, r-really…?" Orihime asked.

Tatsuki smiled, "I'm going to go with Orihime to Ms. Ochi and the other teachers. You guys are fine with Toshiro, right?"

"Yeah, see you later Tatsuki." Ichigo waved.

"Umm, not to be really rude or anything but…" Renji began, "Why are _we_ still standing here and not snowboarding?!"

"Oh, right…" Rukia smiled, "I guess we kinda forgot!"

"How do you forget when you're standing on top of this mountain?" Ichigo wondered as they all began walking towards the area where the other students had gathered.

"I would hardly call this a mountain…" Hitsuguya sighed, "This is practically just a hill compared to well… that." He pointed off towards a mountain in the distance, "I doubt the teachers will even let us come near that thing!"

"It would depend on how well we do, right?" Ichigo asked as he eyed Rukia trying to balance on her snowboard, before falling on her back.

"Find your balance before you try and move first!" Ichigo told her as he helped her up.

"Ichigo's right Kuchiki-san..." Hitsuguya nodded, "It would probably be smarter to do that first."

Rukia blew the hair from her face, "Oh, so you've got _him_ on your side now, huh?"

"Are you angry or something?" Ichigo inquired.

Rukia shook her head, "It's nothing, really…"

"If you say so," Ichigo shrugged as he released his grip from Rukia; causing her to slide down the 'hill'.

"That… wasn't very smart, Ichigo…" Hitsuguya sighed.

"What do you think you're doing, Ichigo?!" Renji exclaimed.

"W-what…?" Ichigo wondered, staring blankly at the two.

Rukia, who didn't know how to snowboard whatsoever, was making her way down the incline and gaining speed. "I'll show that damn Ichigo…" she thought to herself, "I don't need his help!" With determination blocking her thoughts, she couldn't see what was going on around her; not that it would have made a difference, since she couldn't stop either.

"Crap!" Ichigo yelled as he bolted after her, "Rukia, stop…!" The shinigami girl was headed straight for a tree.

She closed her eyes and waited for impact; but she felt nothing painful at all. What she _did_ feel, was something warm grab her by the waist at just the right time, and suddenly, it felt as if she was flying.

When she was sure that there was no danger, her eyes slowly opened. She saw Ichigo with a panicked and slightly relived look on his face and she could feel her face turning red.

He turned to look at her and gave her an awkward smile; a mix of anger, relief, and kindness made it a complicated expression. "You're such an idiot…" he sighed. "You should've gotten a lesson from Toshiro before heading off."

"You're the one that let go so suddenly!"

"Sorry…" he smiled as he said a line that Rukia thought she would never hear him say. "I won't let go now, I promise."

Rukia could feel her face burn. She was probably over-thinking but… _did Ichigo really say that?!_ And on the fourth day, Rukia's sadness temporarily disappeared.

* * *

Happy new year everyone! See you in the first chapter of '10! ~Ryu-Takehshi


	5. Day Five: Surface Tension

Ichigo and Rukia moments for the win! d(^_^)b I honestly had a little too much fun writing that part, (I'm probably still hyped up from New Year's eve… Lolz) I'm obliged to warn you that my hyper-ness will be evident in this chapter. And, another thing: we'll finally have some long-awaited (by me, anyway) ACTION!! Think back to the summary when I wrote about the occasional "fill in the blank". Well, it's coming so get ready! Sorry, I'm still kinda hyper… XD But, hyper can be good sometimes… Now I'm more rearing to get this story moving! So let's go!

* * *

Day Five: 12/18/09

When all of the students met on the 'hill' once again, the disappointed look on Hitsuguya's face was simply priceless, and, as Rangiku put it: "So cute".

As Ichigo began his walk towards a good starting point, Renji and Hitsuguya approached him.

"I can't believe you nearly got Rukia killed!" Renji exclaimed.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Renji, she was going to hit a tree; the worst that could happen is a nosebleed and a headache… Maybe even a small bump, but nothing serious."

"!!!!" an annoyingly familiar and cringe-worthy voice squealed, interrupting their conversation.

Ichigo sighed as he stuck his snowboard out horizontally and watched Keigo run into it. "Hey, what's up…?" he muttered.

As usual, Keigo, with his strange ability to recover in an instant, stood and gave Ichigo a suspicious look.

Ichigo took a step back, "Hey Keigo… Umm, what're you doing?"

"I saw that you know…"

"Uhh, saw… what, exactly?"

"You and Kuchiki-san, obviously," he practically yelled. Ichigo twitched at the annoying sound of his voice as Keigo ranted on, "I never knew that you were into Kuchiki-san! You knew that I kinda liked her! What's wrong with you Ichigo?!"

Renji and Hitsuguya couldn't help but laugh a little as Ichigo raised his snowboard and whacked Keigo in the head. "C'mon," he told the other two, "We have to get out of here before he wakes up!"

_No argument there…_ the other two thought as they all walked off.

Ichigo sighed, "And, as you can see from the head injury I just gave Keigo, Rukia would've been fine whether I was there or not!"

"If that's really the case," Hitsuguya inquired, "why did you rush to her rescue with so much panic?"

Ichigo's face turned slightly red, "And what do you think you're implying you little brat!"

"Yo Ichigo," he heard Tatsuki call.

The three boys turned to see Tatsuki and Orihime waving, towing Rukia behind them. The girl's had left a little later than they did, which would explain why they were behind them.

"We're going to get our snowboards!" Orihime nodded.

"Yeah, we'll meet you at the peak!" Tatsuki added as the two dragged Rukia along.

As they walked off, Rukia brushed past Ichigo's shoulder and the two turned to face each other. Rukia turned away from his stare first; the hint of red on her face was barely visible but, definitely there. And Ichigo, who was already blushing at Hitsuguya's previous comment, tried to force his usual 'I don't care' scoff as he looked the other way as well.

"She's just like a stupid little kid that needs protecting all the time…" he sighed as the three finally took to their snowboarding.

"C'mon Kuchiki," Tatsuki smiled, handing Rukia's white snowboard to her, "Did any of the boys get around to teaching you how to snowboard? Or, were they fighting the whole time?" she laughed.

Rukia shrugged, "Well, I didn't _exactly_ get any lessons, so I guess I'm behind everyone else…"

"Don't worry Kuchiki-san! Tatsuki's a really good teacher! She taught me how to snowboard and now I can stand without falling!"

"G-great Inoue, good for you…" Rukia nodded, thinking that that was probably the _only_ thing that Tatsuki got around to teaching her.

"Anyway, it's kinda weird…" Tatsuki remarked as she looked off at the huge mountain.

"What is, Tatsuki?" Orihime asked.

Tatsuki smiled at Rukia, "You usually hang around Ichigo and the other guys… Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Oh…" Rukia began, clearly remembering the events from yesterday, "N-no reason…"

"Well, welcome aboard!" Tatsuki nodded, "I'm gonna talk to Ms. Ochi for a sec. Umm… If Orihime falls, could you just help her up? Thanks…" she laughed, walking off.

"Don't worry Kuchiki-san, I'll try not to--" Orihime's sentence was cut off by a sudden beeping.

"Oh, Kuchiki-san, I think your phone is ringing…"

Rukia's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at her phone screen, "Inoue… It's a hollow!"

Orihime was in shock for a moment but shook her head to recollect herself, "Alright Kuchiki-san, you should look for Kurosaki-kun and the others. I'll cover just in case Tatsuki asks!"

"Got it, thanks Inoue!" Rukia nodded as she dashed off to find the boys.

"Good luck…" Orihime muttered.

Rukia ran back to where they had past Ichigo earlier, only to run headfirst into him once again. "I-Ichigo…" Rukia began, rubbing her head as she looked up.

"Rukia, there's…" Ichigo started as well as he looked down at her.

The two paused; there had been a tension between them after the incident yesterday and this was the first time they had spoken to each other since.

The tension was soon broken, however, as Renji and Hitsuguya come running. "What's wrong? What happened?" Renji asked.

Rukia nodded as the two snapped back to reality, "T-there was… a hollow! Right, we have to go!"

Just then, Ms. Ochi called, "Guys c'mon we're heading back!"

"Crap…" Renji muttered, "Everyone's gonna wonder what happened if we don't come back with the group and the teachers check the cabins, remember?"

"We'll come back tomorrow…" Hitsuguya concluded. "We're coming back here for skiing anyway, and by then, we can gather Madarame and everyone else."

"You sound like you know something we don't…" Ichigo remarked.

"Where _is_ the hollow, exactly, Toshiro?" Rukia asked.

Hitsuguya smirked, motioning with his head, "Just that mountain over there."

Rukia shook her head, maybe this battle would be the trigger to breaking her and Ichigo's tension; those were her thoughts as the fifth day ended.

* * *

Alright, it's time for some hollow action and possibly another IchixRuki moment, you could never know! I should calm down now… :P ~Ryu-Takehshi


	6. Day Six: The Unseen Battle

Wow, I'm actually half way done. I feel so bad! I didn't make it to my deadline! DX I think I should move it (why? because I have a smaller amount of free time, and because I have chronic writer's block). Looks like I have no other choice anyway, but I'm kinda glad that there are people who are sticking with this story all the way through! The reviews, the story alerts, the favourites, they're all awesome as well and I just wanted to say thanks! Well, on a note that doesn't involve my incompetence of meeting deadlines, time for that action that was promised (Yay!) Okay, now I'm just a _little bit_ hyper, but definitely pumped up to get this story going!

* * *

Day Six: 12/19/09

Rukia, Ichigo, and some of the other shinigami that had come to Karakura High, stood halfway to the top of the mountain, staring down at how far they'd already come.

"How'd you even get permission for us to go up here?" Ichigo had to know.

Hitsuguya shrugged, "I just told the teachers that there was a group of students that wanted to take a further step in snowboarding, rather than trying out skiing…"

Rukia, Ichigo, and Renji silently stared in awe with the same thing going through the three's head: _"What the hell?! The actually let us go?! There's no way it was that easy"_

"How about we stop talking and get there already?!" Ikkaku called from a higher part of the mountain, "I bet you guys can't catch up to me!"

"You're on!" Renji yelled back as he scrambled after him.

Ichigo was just about on his way to running after the two, but he paused and looked back. "Uhh, Rukia…"

Rukia blinked, "Huh? Oh, go on ahead. I wouldn't want to hold you back from getting to the top first."

Ichigo sighed. He knew that it wouldn't be right to just run off, but there was too much awkward tension when he was around Rukia that he couldn't bear it.

While watching Renji and Ikkaku race each other with much regret, Ichigo slowed down to a pace just faster than Rukia's; so that she was only around three steps behind him.*

Rukia knew what he was doing, and she wanted to speak up, but she couldn't. _What's wrong…?_ that voice in her head inquired. _Why can't you speak to Ichigo? Has anything really changed?_

Rukia thought it over; the voice was right. What _had_ changed? Ichigo was just looking out for her, nothing else. She didn't feel this way when he came to save her. Rukia (and the voice) finally concluded that she was just feeling sick because of the weather.

That thought, though she believed it was true (and she's wrong by them way), gave her a bittersweet victory in proving Ichigo's point in wearing a jacket. But, it was a small price to pay in return for being Ichigo's 'team-mate' again.

"Ichigo…" she began as she stepped quicker to close the gap between the two.

Although, poor Rukia's apology was cut off by Yamuchika yelling, "There! There's the hollow!"

The hollow had an oval shaped mask and the usual giant black body and deep, empty hole where the heart should be.

Hitsuguya smirked, changing into his shinigami form and gripping the hilt of Hyorinmaru tightly; he had been waiting for this since yesterday.

As the hollow slammed its arm down, Hitsuguya dodged, jumped up, and was able to land a hit on its arm.

"Where are Madarame and Abarai?" Hitsuguya called.

"They ran too far ahead." Yamuchika answered. "How could they not have seen the hollow…?"

"Idiots…" Ichigo shook his head, about to transform.

The hollow clasped its hands together, readying for another hit. Ichigo paused to see what it would do, but, in the end, never even got a chance to transform. The hollow hit on the cliff of snow right next to…

"Rukia…!" Ichigo yelled.

When the mist of snow cleared, he saw her lying on the cold ground. Her hand moved and Ichigo sighed in relief, but only for a little while, before Rukia clutched her ankle in pain.

He looked from Rukia to the hollow and back again. _What was he to do?_

"Ichigo, go help Kuchiki, we'll take this one!" Hitsuguya ordered, getting another hit, closer to the mask.

Ichigo nodded as he ran over to her. "Rukia…! Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine…" Rukia answered as she tried to stand, only to fall and get caught by Ichigo.

"You're ankle is twisted." Ichigo told her.

"Doesn't Toshiro need your help?"

Ichigo shrugged as he lifted her onto his back, "Meh, I'll get the next hollow… Besides, Renji and Ikkaku missed out too…"

"Ichigo…" Rukia muttered as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks and… sorry…"

"Huh? Sorry for what…?"

"For being so… _different_ during the trip… I just wasn't feeling well. But, now I want to have fun like everyone else."

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Ichigo said in a lighter tone. He looked back and smiled at her. "Team-mate's are supposed to help each other have fun, right?"

Rukia smiled back and nodded, "Yeah…"

Meanwhile, Hitsuguya and Yamuchika ran towards them, already in their gegais.

"I was expecting a little more from that hollow…" Hitsuguya sighed, "Well, I'll see you all at the bottom." He nodded before snowboarding off.

"Are you alright Kuchiki-san?" Yamuchika wondered.

"Yeah, she's fine…" Ichigo answered for her, "Her ankle's just twisted, but I'll take her down…"

"Alright," Yamuchika shrugged as he went off as well.

Ichigo nudged Rukia with his shoulder, "Hey… you owe me for two favours now; you got that?" _No response…_ Ichigo smiled as he began on his way down; she was quick to fall asleep.

Finally, as he was nearing the bottom of the mountain, Ikkaku and Renji came dashing down.

"Ichigo," Renji called, "We searched everywhere and couldn't find the hollow!"

"Yeah, there wasn't anything at the top of the mountain…" Ikkaku remarked.

Ichigo shook his head as he told them, "Go talk to Toshiro for the details." The two nodded and ran off as Ichigo muttered under his breath, "Idiots…"

"Hey Ichigo…" Rukia muttered quietly.

"Oh finally woke up, huh? What is it…?"

"Tomorrow… can you teach me how to snowboard?"

Ichigo smiled, "Sure Rukia… Anything you want…"

* * *

I'm so sorry this took so long! Now that school's back I've had no time on this computer of mine! I'll try and get this done as soon as possible (since I suck at meeting deadlines). I hope people will still keep reading! ~Ryu-chan


	7. Day Seven: Snowboards and Whipped Cream

I just want to make it clear that I was on a trip since Thursday, and just got back… Sorry for the late update (and the horrible crime of rhyme…) I forgot to put this * (asterisk) explanation in the last chapter but, on day six when I typed: _"Ichigo slowed down to a pace just faster than Rukia's; so that she was only around three steps behind him" _In Japan, there's a custom where wives walk three steps behind their husband and I thought it would be cool/funny/interesting to put it in. Yeah, I didn't know what I was thinking either. (What else is new?) :-P Also, I think I've decided to move my deadline (officially) to the 15th (I'm so bad at this!) Well, onto the story: everyone it's time to say goodbye to winter sports, because today's our last day!

* * *

Day Seven: 12/20/09

The next day, Rukia's ankle had practically healed, aside from the occasional pain that came and went. She decided though, that she was strong enough to try out snowboarding; besides, Ichigo was there to help her.

When she woke up the next morning, she was greeted by Orihime's usual bubbly smile and Tatsuki's food.

"Good morning Kuchiki-san! Are you feeling any better?" Orihime asked as she walked Rukia over to the stool.

"I'm fine," she nodded, "Thanks Inoue…"

"How'd you hurt your ankle anyway?" Tatsuki asked as she handed Rukia her plate. "You were up on the mountain with Toshiro-san and Ichigo, right?"

Rukia paused as she and Orihime exchanged glances. "Umm… I slipped and kinda slid down the ice…" Rukia tried to explain.

"Yeah, until I had to run after her and carry her back…" Ichigo remarked as he sat down beside Rukia.

"Hold up Ichigo, I'll get your plate." Tatsuki said as she retreated back to the kitchen.

Orihime, Ichigo and Rukia all sighed in relief. "Too close…" Rukia muttered.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay Kuchiki-san!" Orihime beamed as she walked off to go help Tatsuki.

Ichigo and Rukia looked over to each other and smiled slightly; but, Ichigo suddenly burst out laughing. Rukia blinked for a moment before turning to see what he was laughing at and, of course, it was Renji.

"Shut up Ichigo…" Renji muttered as he took a seat next to Rukia as well.

"You and Ikkaku are such idiots!" Ichigo laughed. "How could you run right by the hollow?"

"I told you to shut up…" Renji sighed.

"Hmm…? Hollow what?" Tatsuki wondered as she came with her and Renji's plate on hand.

The three shinigami's eyes widened as Orihime jumped in, "Oh! The hollow… tree! Yeah, Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-kun were telling me about it. Uhh, Kurosaki-kun hid Abarai-san's snowboard in this hollow tree and Abarai-san was looking for it for the entire day with Madarame-san…"

"Oh, I get it!" Tatsuki laughed as she gave Ichigo a thumb's up, "Nice work! No offence Abarai…"

Renji, still recovering from their hollow situation almost being discovered, twitched as he stated, "N-none taken Arisawa…"

Ichigo slid back his chair and nodded, "Well anyway… I'm done, how about you Rukia?"

Rukia nodded as she took the last bite of her sausage, "Yeah, I'm good, let's go…"

"Where are you two off to?" Tatsuki wondered.

"Thanks to my ankle, I couldn't snowboard much yesterday, so Ichigo offered to teach me a little more today." She explained.

"Alright, have fun!" Orihime waved as the two walked out the door.

"Those two got awfully close all of a sudden…" Tatsuki noticed, "Anything interesting happen yesterday Abarai?"

Renji sighed as he shook his head, "I wouldn't know…" he muttered, "because, I was _'looking for my snowboard'_ apparently…"

"Hey, are you sure you're up for snowboarding today?" Ichigo wondered as he handed Rukia her snowboard

"I'm fine," she nodded, "quit worrying and just teach me already…"

Ichigo shrugged, "Alright, alright… It's not really that hard, to be honest, it's just shifting your weight so that you can go different directions."

Ichigo spent the whole day teaching Rukia everything _he_ knew about snowboarding, and Hitsuguya came in at some point and became Rukia's 'second' teacher.

"Hey, not too bad Kuchiki-san…" Hitsuguya remarked, "Just make sure to keep your balance all the way through…"

"Thanks for the advice…" Rukia said with a little sarcasm as the two boys helped her up for, at least, the fifth time that day.

"Well, you're doing pretty well for someone with a sprained ankle…" Ichigo consoled.

"Thanks for _almost_ making me feel better after falling down… again." She laughed.

Ichigo smiled slightly; that was probably the first or second time he had seen her laugh during the entire trip and that was all he was trying to get out of her.

After the teachers called all of the students back, everyone gathered in the giant meeting hall for hot chocolate. Ichigo and Rukia sat together on the couches that surrounded a normal sized coffee table.

On the table, there were three cans of whipped cream, a bowl of mini marshmallows, some packets of hot chocolate, and a thermos for the hot water.

As Rukia sipped her hot chocolate, she cringed and muttered a quiet scream.

"What's wrong…?" Ichigo wondered, "Does your ankle hurt or something?"

Rukia shook her head as she popped a marshmallow in her mouth, "Nah, I just burned my tongue…"

"Geez, be more careful…" Ichigo sighed.

"You should too, Ichigo…" Renji suddenly called as he grabbed a can of whipped cream and sprayed it over Ichigo's hair. "Hah, that's payback for this morning, _and_ yesterday!"

"Why you…? Renji!!" Ichigo exclaimed as he snatched the second can of whipped cream and sprayed him back.

Renji dodged it slightly and aimed the can at Ichigo, "Hah! Take this!" He fired the white stream at Ichigo who dodged quickly, but suddenly stopped; something was wrong.

Renji sensed it too as he and Ichigo turned, only to see Rukia's shocked face covered in whipped cream.

"R-Rukia… uhh…" Renji began, "S-sorry…"

"Y-yeah, Rukia… uhh, our bad?" Ichigo apologized.

Rukia wiped the cream from her eyes and grabbed the last can of whipped cream, spraying the two boys in the face. "It's on now!" she laughed.

And so, day seven ended with three whipped cream-covered teenagers getting a lecture from Ms. Ochi.

* * *

I finally finished this chapter! I hate having writer's block, so props go to my cousin for giving me some ideas! I hope everyone enjoyed the sports! ~Ryu


	8. Day Eight: Sadness in the Snow

Alright, time to get the ball rolling. The sports were used to get us into the whole feel of the trip but, there are still a lot of chapters to be done and a lot of drama to go through! I read in an (awesome) review that the IchixRuki awkwardness is something to look forward to, so I'll try and make that happen more! And, in the same review strangely, I was reminded that I nearly forgot Uryuu, so he'll be showing up some more (and, I guess Sado will too, don't wanna leave them out or anything)! Please continue reading till the end! I'm so close to the finale… I can almost imagine it! (Wait, I _have_ to imagine it… because I'm gonna write it! Oops… XD Lolz).

* * *

Day Eight: 12/21/09

Rukia arose from her bed slowly; it had been awhile since she was able to wake up so peacefully. Any usual morning in the past week would've been hectic as everyone in her group scrambled to get their breakfast and get out on the hill for some snowboarding or skiing (or fighting hollows). But today, Rukia was at a loss of what the teachers planned for them.

Another thing that made her wonder as she changed into her day clothes was: _why was it so quiet?_

"Did I sleep in…? Is everyone gone already?" she wondered as she stepped out of her room and walked down the hallway.

As she peered into the kitchen and living room, she smiled faintly. It was the same scene she had woken up to for the past week. Tatsuki was making breakfast, Orihime was happily greeting everyone that came, and Ichigo and Renji were either late in waking up or taking a shower.

"Good morning Inoue…" she smiled as she took her usual spot on the bar stools.

"Good morning…!" Orihime smiled back. "Guess what Kuchiki-san! We're going on a carriage ride tour today!"

"Oh…" Rukia nodded, _so that's what they were going to do today…_ She had nearly forgotten.

"Carriage ride, huh?" Ichigo's voice began as the two girls looked down the hallway.

"G'morning Ichigo…" Rukia greeted as Ichigo took his regular seat next to her.

"It's a good idea before we go off and buy our gifts, right?" Orihime went on.

"Yeah…" the two shinigami stated in hesitant unison; gifts had completely slipped the two's mind until now.

Tatsuki came by with plates of food, also as usual, and then set them down before looking down at her watch. "Looks like Abarai slept in again," she laughed as they all began to eat.

Soon after, Renji (reluctantly) got up and ate quickly, and the five of them finally set off to the designated meeting spot. The carriage was already waiting for them. It sat eight and, as they had been told, their group had the largest size of carriage because of (as Tatsuki put it) more poor planning on the teacher's part. The carriage itself was pretty much a boxed-cart with a roof and windows being pulled by a horse.

The driver smiled at the teens and tipped his hat as he went and opened the door, "You're all with the Karakura group, right?"

"Yes sir…" Tatsuki nodded, about to get on.

"Hey look its Ichida!" Orihime waved, causing Tatsuki to pause and step back down. "We haven't seen you over the whole trip!"

Uryuu and Sado approached the group. "Yeah well, we were located at the lodge on the opposite side of the resort." Uryuu explained.

"Ms. Ochi told us to join up with your group for the carriage ride since there weren't enough seats on our groups." Sado added.

"Then welcome aboard!" Orihime beamed as she stepped onto the carriage.

Tatsuki followed and sat by Orihime and Rukia went in and sat across from the two.

"Hey Sado," Ichigo waved as Sado nodded and took a seat next to Tatsuki.

Uryuu pushed up his glasses as he nodded slightly and muttered, "Kurosaki…"

Ichigo motioned his head as he muttered back, "Ichida…"

"If neither of you two are going…" Renji sighed as he took a step towards, "I'll just go ahead…"

"Renji wait! _I_ was going to sit beside Rukia!" Ichigo blurted out. Rukia's eyes widened.

_Everyone was silent._

Uryuu scoffed, "No need to be so forward about it Kurosaki…"

Ichigo shook his head and went to take his place beside the red-faced Rukia. Renji took the spot beside Ichigo and Uryuu finally stepped on alongside Sado. It was obvious to say that Ichigo was scolding himself for saying that out loud (or at all, for that matter), and that he and Rukia were completely embarrassed at what had just happened.

"Uhh…" Ichigo began to apologize as the carriage started moving. He turned to face her, only to see that her eyes were fixed at the snow falling on the other side of the window. Ichigo didn't know it, but she had taken to staring at the window only to avoid looking embarrassed in front of him.

Ichigo and Rukia sighed in unison, both thinking: _"I can just apologize after…"_

"So…" Orihime could definitely sense the awkward tension between everyone, and she knew that she didn't like it. "Umm… Ichida, Yasutora… how well did you guys do at the snowboarding and skiing?"

Ichigo and Rukia smiled slightly as they both sent a glance at Orihime. Whenever things are down, Orihime's always there to brighten things up.

"Huh…? Oh, pretty well, I guess…" Sado stated as Uryuu nodded in agreement.

"You should've seen how many times Orihime fell!" Tatsuki laughed, "And I heard that Ichigo hid Abarai's snowboard in this hollow tree, and he spent the whole day looking for it!"

"_Hollow_ tree, huh?" Uryuu echoed, glaring at Ichigo.

Ichigo sent him a triumphant smile that said: _"Yeah, we didn't call on you because Shinigami can handle it without the likes of Quincies!"_

Renji rolled his eyes; in his mind, Ikkaku was at fault for the two not being able to fight the hollow _and_ for Renji not being around to help Rukia when she got hurt. And, ironically, Ikkaku blamed Renji for the first point as well.

"What else do we have to look forward to?" Orihime bubbled, trying to get Rukia, Ichigo and Renji into the conversation as well. "What are you looking forward to Abarai-san?"

Renji thought for a moment and then smiled smugly, "I can't wait to skate circles around Ichigo!"

"Oh yeah, our challenge," Ichigo nodded, "And what're you talking about Renji? I'll destroy you!"

"Are you looking forward to skating Kuchiki-san?" Orihime asked with a happy smile.

Rukia looked up at her, but couldn't say anything. Ichigo went on by saying, "Hey Inoue, you said that you were good at skating right?"

"Yep, Tatsuki taught me everything!"

Rukia sighed as she looked back out the window and stared at the falling snow. The eighth day ended with the return Rukia's unexpected sadness.

* * *

Poor Rukia, she's sad, and once again, Orihime and Ichigo caused it! ~Ryu T.


	9. Day Nine: A Road Full of Thoughts

Finally, we're getting into the more dramatic parts. If you recall, whenever the topics of "gifts" or "presents" come up, Ichigo and Rukia are first to worry over it. Well, as Ms. Ochi put it, the next two days are solid gift buying time. This day will kinda focus more on Ichigo (so this chapter can be called Ichigo's One Day of Christmas… or something more creative LOLz). And, the next day/chapter is all Rukia's! For the record, Ichigo is gift shopping with all of the guys and Rukia with the girls.

* * *

Day Nine: 12/22/09

Come morning, Ichigo got forced out of bed by Renji, who had strangely woken up early that day, and was dragged outside and into the surrounding area. Upon entering, he and Renji met up with Uryuu and Sado.

"We're supposed to be gift shopping… right?" Renji questioned.

"Yeah…" Ichigo answered as he said the one thing that was on all of their minds. "Damn, where should we start?"

"Well, I brought a list people…" Uryuu nodded.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and muttered, "Of course you did…"

"Forgive me for being prepared!" Uryuu protested sarcastically.

Sado shrugged, "Well, we're not gonna get anything done by standing around here, we should start somewhere."

Ichigo sighed, "Alright Ichida… who's first on your list?"

"I have Arisawa and Inoue first." He nodded.

"Sounds good to me," Renji agreed as the group of boys finally started on their way.

They came across a small boutique that could only be described with one word: _pink_. This was probably the best place for finding a gift for Orihime Inoue.

The boys felt slightly embarrassed at the obvious fact that a group four teenage boys casually walking into a 'pink' boutique was complete and utter nonsense. But, in the spirit of Christmas, and after many sessions of _'You go first… No, I insist you go first! Go first damn it'_; they finally entered the shop to look around.

By the end of all the 'torture', as Renji put it, the group had finally decided on gifts for Karakura High's resident _pink princess._ Uryuu had bought her a blue bracelet that bore the symbol of a star, to match her hair clips. Renji, with help from Sado and Ichigo, picked out a pink and red plaid choker with lace and frills and everything else that made most the boys cringe. Sado got her, after consulting Uryuu several hundred times, a red summer-ish dress with a white stripe design. And Ichigo got Orihime _yet another_ pink t-shirt; as if she didn't already have enough.

As for Tatsuki, the boys had completely different ideas on what to get her and ended up buying her gifts individually from different stores. Ichigo had got her headphones that had skulls and such on them. Sado got her a shirt with two guys in sparring gear about to fight. Renji bought a couple of sword key chains for her cell phone; and Uryuu ended up buying a simple green hoodie sweater with a picture of a hawk in mid-flight on the back.

"Okay, who's next?" Ichigo asked as the four sat on a bench, taking a break.

"Well, I have a couple of you guys next," Uryuu answered, "But there's no way you're coming with me while I buy your gifts."

"I agree." Sado nodded.

"We should split up and meet back here then." Renji offered as they temporarily split up.

After about an hour and a half, they all met again and continued their way through Uryuu's list. But finally, they came to the name that Ichigo was dreading.

"Lastly is... uhh Kuchiki-san." Uryuu told them as he threw the list away.

Ichigo's eyes dropped to the ground. _"Damn it…"_ he thought, _"What could I possibly get Rukia?!"_ It was a question that had been eating at him since the beginning of the trip and, though he didn't know it, the same went for his raven-haired shinigami 'team-mate'.

Just like with Tatsuki, there was much discussion over what Rukia really liked and the boys were forced to disband and search on their own.

Ichigo, frankly, couldn't care any less what the other boys thought Rukia would like, which was exactly why he suggested they looked around on their own or, at least, without him.

He couldn't explain why, but it felt like Rukia's gift was something personal to him, something completely different from buying a gift for Orihime, Sado, or even Renji. There was something about Rukia that stood above them. _"Rukia was…"_ Ichigo thought to himself, _"something different… something special…"_

He paused for a moment, _"Wait… What am I saying to myself?! All this talk over Rukia… Rukia's just Rukia, isn't she? What more could she be? Is she anything more than a friend…?"_ He thought hard. Was she _really _more than a friend the way he looked at it, and the way other looked at it?

Ichigo couldn't believe the things that were going through his mind, and they all started because of that bunny-loving, super-short shinigami that 'accidentally' came into his life.

As he walked up and down the streets that they had rode over in a carriage just yesterday, he had to wonder: why was Rukia suddenly becoming increasingly important to him with each passing minute? He knew he thought highly of her, as a close friend but, nothing more… right?

"There's nothing between me and Rukia…" he told himself, "N-nothing at--"

"Ichigo…?"

He looked up, only to see the person of the hour, Rukia Kuchiki, looking back at him. He could feel his face turning red as the two stood silently in the snow.

"Are you buying presents?" Rukia wondered.

"Huh…? Oh, yeah… I got Renji's and Tatsuki's and Inoue's." he nodded, checking the bags.

Rukia's expression wavered as she looked at the ground, "Oh… I see." _Where was her name?_

"How about you, did you buy all of the presents yet?"

Rukia shrugged, "Inoue and Arisawa couldn't really decide today so we're coming back to it tomorrow… I'm just… taking a walk around."

Ichigo nodded, _coming back tomorrow didn't sound like too bad of an idea._

"Did you want to… take a walk too, Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

"Sure…" Ichigo answered as the two went on walking.

"Achoo…" Rukia sneezed quietly.

"Don't tell me your sick…"

"N-no, I'm fine. It's just really cold."

"Why are _you_ cold, you're wearing gloves…? Wait, are those the soul-reaper gloves?!"

"Yeah, but they don't cover the fingers!" she complained as she blew hot breath on them to heat them up.

Ichigo laughed, a hearty laugh that didn't really suit him, but Rukia smiled at it. "Geez Rukia, you didn't really come prepared for this trip, huh?"

"S-shut up!" she rolled her eyes as she nudged him with her elbow.

Ichigo shook his head and the two continued on their walk, but Ichigo knew that he would be coming back after, because he finally knew what to get her.

* * *

Alright, Ichigo's feelings are starting to get there! I like this chapter! ~Ryu


	10. Day Ten: Rukia's Inner War

When I was originally planning out the events for each chapter (firstly, I'm surprised I actually _planned out_ something in the first place), I called day ten: "Rukia's Gift Problem". Suffice to say that it was around twelve midnight and I was slightly dead from the sudden end to my Christmas sugar rush. I like putting friction between Ichigo and Rukia when they're around each other but, at the same time, showing how much they're alike when the other isn't around. That's why they're my favourite anime couple… Well, time to start!

* * *

Day Ten: 12/23/09

Just as Rukia had said, she, Orihime, and Tatsuki revisited the surrounding area to take another shot at buying their gifts the following day.

"Ichida gave me the idea of writing down a list…" Orihime smiled as the other shrugged and followed along.

"Let's see…" Tatsuki began as she peered over Orihime's shoulder and read the first line. "First up are Yasutora, Abarai and Ichida, well let's get going!"

The three girls were at a complete loss, just like yesterday, and couldn't decide whether _Uryuu wanted this_ or _Sado would like something like that _or even, _Abarai would look weird in that._ But they somehow managed to find things that they could _imagine_ the boys would like.

"Geez…" both Tatsuki and Rukia thought, "Is it going to be like this the _whole time?_"

"Hey Kuchiki-san," Orihime called, "Do you think Yasutora-san would like this?" She held up a sweater with a vertical striped design.

"Interesting colour choice Inoue…" Rukia laughed, looking at the stripes of black, red and white.

Orihime laughed with her, "I know, right? I'm gonna get it for him."

"Huh…?" Tatsuki, who was left out of the joke, tilted her head, "What're you guys talking about?"

"Oh, it's nothing Tatsuki!" Orihime nodded as she walked up to the cashier and bought the sweater.

"Okay…" Tatsuki shrugged, "Anyway, what else do you think those guys like?"

Rukia looked up and noticed a blue shirt with a white graphic of an archer on it. "I think I'll get Ichida this one." Rukia concluded.

Tatsuki questioned, "You think he'll like that? Is he into archery or something?"

"Something, like that…" Rukia told her as she went up to make the purchase as well.

"Kuchiki-san, check this out!" Orihime pointed to a red t-shirt with a rock group on it. "Abarai-san would like this right? He always dresses like a rock-star…"

Rukia laughed hard, "Really Inoue, you think so? Well, if you think he likes it, you should get it!"

"Man…" Tatsuki sighed, smiling slightly at the two. "You two seem to know the guys really well. You all hung out over summer, right?"

Rukia and Orihime both looked over to her with a semi-shocked expression. But, Rukia scoffed and pulled a hesitant smile. "We hung out this one time… but, that was about it, right Orihime?"

Orihime nodded quickly, "Yes, yeah… uhh, right Kuchiki-san!"

Tatsuki looked at them for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, "Aw well, you two will just have to help me pick out a gift."

"I think Ichida needs a new sewing kit…" Orihime pointed out.

"And with Yasutora, you can't go wrong with something like an arm or wrist band with a cool design." Rukia added.

"And you could get Abarai-san like, a stronger hair tie!" Orihime laughed, remembering that breakfast where Renji's hair was completely un-fixable.

Tatsuki nodded as they exited the store with all of their gifts, "I guess you're right. Well, who's next Orihime?"

Just like with the boys, the next few people were the three girls, so they all split up. But, that day, they were running out of time so the girls agreed to buy gifts for the people on list individually to save time.

Tatsuki copied out a list just like Orihime's for herself and Rukia over lunch. And after, the three parted.

"Alright…" Rukia sighed, "Looks like I'm all alone once again…" She went through Orihime's list with slight ease, seeing as she didn't have Orihime or Tatsuki asking about what she was getting; not that it was a bad thing or anything. In truth, Rukia was happy to be hanging around the two girls and getting to know them a little better.

And, just as she was happily thinking about what she got out of this trip, _his_ name appeared last. Just like Ichigo, Rukia was dreading the decision of what to get the super-tall, orange-haired boy who fought his way against the entire Soul Society for her.

This was the first Christmas after that 'incident' and something inside of her wanted the gift that Ichigo got from her, to reflect on how thankful she really was for coming to get her.

"_Ichigo's weird…"_ she thought as she walked along and looked at all of the stores. _"He'll act like he doesn't care at all… But, he really does. He didn't even look at me while he was saving me. He's so weird!"_

Rukia laughed a little to herself as she continued walking. _"But then again, it's a good kind of weird. He's considerate of others, even if he doesn't want to show it. He's really kind of cool and heroic like that, especially when he came and saved me… He was like a super hero and-"_

Rukia thought for a moment and her face suddenly turned red, _"Ughh! What's going on in my head?! I keep complimenting that stupid… annoying… I-Ichigo! Even in my own mind it's embarrassing!"_

She shook her head and tried to recollect herself. _"Focus Rukia, focus…! I have to find a gift for him…"_ She looked around with despair, _"But, nothing here is big enough to show how I felt then…_"

She paused for a moment. _"The way I felt then…? W-what about the way I feel now? H-how do I feel… about Ichigo?"_

With every question that the little voice in her mind threw at her, her heart began to beat faster, her face become more read, and the more aware she became… of how she really felt.

"_W-what's up with this?! Ichigo… Ichigo… Why does he keep popping up? T-there's no way I'm actually-- I'm not actually thinking that--"_

Rukia sighed; this day certainly didn't go as planned. She ended up tired from holding all of her gifts, which she still had to wrap later that evening. But, more than that, she was left confused.

For one thing, she was at a complete loss as to what to get Ichigo to say not just "Merry Christmas" but "Thank you" as well. And another thing, her mind was at a constant war, just like the snowball fight that she and her group had had so long ago. It felt like something was trying to get through to her, but she didn't want to let it in, and most of the day passed with her staring blankly at all of the store signs. She was trying to think through what was going on in her mind; _was there something between her and Ichigo?_

But this is what counterattacked in her mind. _"What's the use in even having thoughts like that…?"_ she finally concluded,_ "Besides, come tomorrow, nothing will matter…"_

* * *

I don't know if anyone knows this; Jan. 14th (today) is Rukia's birthday! ~Ryu


	11. Day Eleven: Skating Lessons

Sorry, I'm typing this kinda late in the day. I got addicted to playing the Ouran High School Host Club video game on my DS yesterday and lost track of some (okay, a lot) of time. If anyone reading is wondering about why Rukia is _not_ looking forward to the skating, it will all be cleared up now; it also ties in with Rukia's so-called 'unexpected sadness'. I guess I have to move the deadline (again) but, only until tomorrow (the 17th)! Then, I promise that this entire fanfic will finally be over and done with! This is the second last chapter and tomorrow, the last one will be finished (hopefully). But, let's focus on one chapter at a time for now…

* * *

Day Eleven: 12/24/09

Rukia sighed as she reluctantly walked with her group towards the meeting place, designated by the teachers. Today, everyone was going to go skating.

"_Why did it have to be skating…?" _she asked herself, _"And why did Inoue have to be good at it. Nothing against her, but…"_ She shook her head, _"Why do I have to come in the first place?!"_

Rukia had known that there would be skating on this trip, right from the beginning, when the teachers announced that they were going at school. That was the whole reason as to why she thought she was 'forced' to come on this trip; but Ichigo changed that.

Ichigo had become her 'team-mate' over the course of the trip. He had saved her, carried down a mountain, and was generally nicer than usual; which, in comparison to how _she_ had acted, was an extremely large act of kindness. But, that was just how Ichigo was, _right?_

She had thought that Ichigo was the one who would take the sadness of coming away and let her have fun, and she almost did, but, unfortunately for her, the day of skating had to come sooner or later.

She pouted as she sat on the side bench where everyone around her was lacing up their skates. For her own record, she didn't even fully know why she was sad in the first place.

"Did you need someone to tie your skates for you, Kuchiki-san?" Orihime asked.

Rukia forced a smile at Orihime and shook her head, "Nah, its fine Inoue. Thanks, anyway…"

"Alright…" Orihime shrugged as she went back to her seat beside Tatsuki.

Soon, everyone (aside from Rukia) was laced up and on getting on the ice. Rukia sighed as she watched everyone speed into the rink and skate around.

"Alright…!" Renji exclaimed as he jumped onto the ice, "Ready to get beaten Ichigo?!"

"You don't have a chance!" Ichigo yelled back as he was about to step onto the ice. Suddenly, he looked back; he had that feeling again, that something was out of place.

All he saw was Rukia sitting down on the sidelines with no skates on, staring at everyone in the rink, with a frown on her face. Ichigo's heart sank as he skated over to Renji.

"Dude…" he muttered, "I uhh… can't race you today…"

"W-what…? I told you that there was no backing out!"

Ichigo put a hand on Renji's shoulder and motioned for him to look at Rukia. Renji was taken aback, and then sighed. "Alright Ichigo," he nodded, "Some other time then…"

Ichigo nodded back as he skated over to the entrance to the rink. He rested his arms on the post and stared back at Rukia. "Hey, are you not skating?"

Rukia looked over to him with a shocked expression. "W-what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be racing Renji right now?"

Ichigo smiled as he got off the rink and sat beside her, "Meh, I could beat him any day. Anyway… let's go Rukia…"

"H-huh…? I'm not going skating! Ichigo! Cut it out!" she protested as Ichigo bent down and laced her skates up.

"C'mon! Why don't you wanna go skating? Its fun!" he nodded.

Rukia looked away and Ichigo muttered. "Rukia… don't tell me. You… You can't skate, can you?"

"S-shut up…! What does it matter if I can skate or not? Go off and have some fun without me! Why do you care about me so much?! Go skate with Inoue; she seems to be really good!"

Ichigo finally understood as he smirked and put a hand on her head, "Idiot…"

Rukia looked up at him and he smiled at her, "What if I wanted to skate with you?"

Rukia's face went red as Ichigo pulled her by the arm and onto the rink. Rukia wobbled a bit before slipping and falling. Ichigo did his best not to laugh as he helped her up and let her hold onto the wall.

"It's not really that hard. I taught you how to snowboard, so I can teach you how to skate, right?"

Rukia, while holding onto the wall, muttered, "I-I don't…"

"C'mon, don't tell me you're afraid…"

That was it; that's why she didn't want to come skating so badly. She, also, finally understood: she didn't want Ichigo to see her afraid.

She sighed, "Alright Ichigo, teach me how to skate…"

Ichigo nodded, "Good choice Rukia, it'll be really easy, I promise! The first step is to let go of the wall…"

"Huh?"

"If you're holding onto the wall the whole time, you're gonna get used to skating with a handicap. Just let go and hold onto my shirt or something, I'll skate you around."

"N-never mind, then. I'm perfectly happy skating with a handicap!"

Ichigo smirked, seeing Rukia afraid was such a treat to him. "Alright, if you wanna stay here…" he shrugged as he pretended to skate off, "I'll just go off and skate with Tatsuki and Inoue…"

Rukia's eyes widened as she reached out from the wall and tried to grab onto his shirt. But, he was already too far and she ended up grabbing his hand.

Ichigo blushed as he turned to face her; her face was quite red as well. And why wouldn't they be? Ichigo and Rukia were holding hands.

Rukia gasped, "S-sorry…" she began as she tried to pull away.

Ichigo gripped her hand instinctively, "N-no, umm… this works too. C-c'mon, let's get skating…"

Ichigo pulled her along and the two soon forgot that they were holding hands. "Hey, you're doing pretty well!" he praised her after some time.

"You think so?" Rukia asked in disbelief as she got up from the ground for the fifth time that day.

"No, I'm lying…" Ichigo laughed as he held onto her hand again, "You're doing _awesome!_" And, just like that, Ichigo completely erased Rukia's sadness.

That night, Rukia sat at her desk in her room. She grabbed a pencil and paper and worked endlessly through the night. She finally knew what to get Ichigo…

* * *

One chapter to go! Can you believe it?! I don't think I have to change the deadline anymore, so I feel kinda good! The last chapter will be out by tonight, I promise! (And that's a promise I can keep! ~Ryu-Takehshi


	12. Day Twelve: Christmas Day

Can you believe that we finally made it?! I really can't except that I'm… well, done! Well, as promised it's out on the sixteenth and I (sort of) met my deadline. But, anyway… for the students of Karakura High, it's finally Christmas day and they get to spend it in their lodges! If this chapter is a little longer than the others, feel happy, because this chapter as a right to be longer! I wonder if anyone can guess what Rukia's present for Ichigo is. *raises hand* I know what it is! (Of course I do… I thought of it!) Well, enough of my random talking, it's out last day…

* * *

Day Twelve: 12/25/09

"Rukia…! Rukia…!" Ichigo called the next morning as he knocked hard on her room's door. "We're not gonna open our presents till you're out there with us, so hurry up!"

He tried the door knob and, surprisingly, the door slowly creaked open. "You didn't lock your door last night…?" Ichigo asked as he stepped inside the room.

He immediately saw her slumped over her desk, fast asleep. He rolled his eyes and laughed as he walked over to her. "Hey… Hey Rukia, c'mon, get up…"

He nudged her a little more and the sleeping girl's body moved slightly to the side. "Man, what time did you sleep anyway?" Ichigo remarked as he looked down at the desk to see what she was doing.

His eyes widened as he looked down at the piece of paper that Rukia had 'worked all night on'; but it looked nothing like what it did when she had started. It was completely filled with sketches that Ichigo _had_ to smile at and, "strangely enough," he thought, "they weren't as weird, random, or bunny-filled as usual."

In one corner was a picture of a sleeping Rukia on Ichigo's back, walking down a mountain of snow. In another was Ichigo when he had come to her rescue before she hit the tree. There were others of Ichigo giving her snowboarding lessons and them taking a walk. But, the two that stood out right in the middle of the page were one of Ichigo and Rukia holding hands while skating; and the other, Ichigo was taken aback by. It was a drawing that could only be described as incredibly beautiful; it was a drawing of Ichigo coming to Rukia's rescue in the Soul Society. And, in the top corner was Rukia's handwriting: _"Merry Christmas Ichigo… Thanks for absolutely everything! From your shinigami team-mate: Rukia Kuchiki"_

Ichigo smiled softly as he bent down and muttered in her ear, "Hey Rukia…" he put his hand on her shoulder and lightly shook her awake, "C'mon Rukia, time to get up…"

Rukia's eyes slowly opened and she blinked a couple of times; but the first thing she saw was Ichigo smiling back at her.

Her face turned red as Ichigo put his forehead to hers and muttered, "Thanks Rukia… Merry Christmas…"

"I-Ichigo…" Rukia gasped. "O-oh… y-you're welcome!"

"Well," Ichigo nodded as he stood up straight and stretched a little before offering his hand to her, "C'mon, everyone's waiting in the living room."

Rukia took his hand and the two intertwined their fingers as he pulled her out of the chair and the two walked together towards the living room.

"Wow Rukia, you really slept in!" Renji remarked.

"Yeah," Tatsuki laughed, "You were out longer than Abarai usually is!"

"What were you doing last night Kuchiki-san?" Orihime wondered.

"It was…" Rukia nodded, "something really important…"

"Well," Ichigo began as he rested his hand on her head, "let's start opening some gifts!"

The whole room was aglow as the group of five opened each others' gifts and celebrated together.

"Thanks for the awesome headphones Ichigo!" Tatsuki exclaimed, holding the skull-designed headphones in her hands.

"Yeah, and thanks for the shirt Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime smiled as she unfolded the pink shirt.

"The same goes to you Inoue," Renji added, looking at the rock band on his present, "This shirt is pretty awesome!"

"How are we going to get Yasutora and Ishida's gifts to them…?" Rukia remarked.

"Oh yeah," Ichigo nodded, "We should go bring them later… _much_ later, right?" he laughed.

"Don't say that man," Renji joked, "They still have our presents too, remember?"

"Oh, true…" Tatsuki agreed, thinking about how Uryuu would react to the sewing kit.

Ichigo held Rukia's present in his hands and stared down at it. Compared to Rukia's gift for him, this wasn't much. He wondered what he could do to make this entirely better.

But, Ichigo wasn't aware of how Rukia actually felt about his 'gift'. To her, Ichigo's gift was teaching her how to snowboard, saving her from an extremely painful impact, holding hands while skating with her, and, most importantly, giving her a reason to have fun on this trip. That was more than enough for Rukia, who, in turn, felt that _her_ gift was inferior to everything he had done for her.

"Hey Ichigo, who's that gift is that?" Tatsuki asked, pointing at Rukia's gift in Ichigo's hands.

"Oh… uhh, Rukia's…" he answered. He stood and walked carefully around the bits of torn wrapping paper, and sat down right beside Rukia as he handed her the gift.

"This isn't a lot but…" Ichigo began.

What he did next was a surprise to, not only himself, but everyone in the room. Ichigo leaned in and kissed Rukia on the cheek, "Merry Christmas… Rukia…"

Rukia gasped and she could feel her face flush red, like so many other times this trip. She looked down at the gift that lay in her hands as she tried to conceal her burning-red face. She slowly pulled the wrapping paper off of the gift and smiled at what she saw.

There sat a pair of black and red gloves and earmuffs with the same colour scheme.

"Like I said…" Ichigo sighed, "It's not really much…"

Rukia shook her head as she hugged him. "Thank you Ichigo… Really, thank you so much!"

"Aww…" Tatsuki smiled as she took a picture with the digital camera that Orihime got her. "Oh, that reminds me!" she started up again as Ichigo and Rukia turned to look at her.

"I didn't give you two _my_ gift yet, did I?" Tatsuki asked.

"Huh…?" Ichigo questioned as he and Rukia held up the gifts that they had received from her.

"Yeah, these are from you, right Arisawa?" Rukia asked.

Tatsuki shook her head, "Well, _yeah_ they are, but… I'm talking about my gift to _both _of you! It's uhh… at the hallway entrance."

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other as the walked over and stood at the hallway entrance.

"This is kinda a gift from all of us…" Tatsuki nodded, "And, I'm glad Orihime got me a camera so we can _always_ remember it!"

"W-well… what is it?" Rukia wondered.

"All you guys have to do is look up!" Orihime giggled as Rukia and Ichigo did what they were told.

The two's eyes widened; they were staring right at the mistletoe that hung from the entrance.

"I had a feeling you girls were planning something like this…" Renji sighed, "Ah well, Merry Christmas you two…"

"Uhh…" Ichigo began as he turned to Rukia. "So…"

"This can be… uhh, part of _my_ gift to you too, Ichigo." Rukia nodded, still thinking that her original gift didn't match up with everything Ichigo had done for her.

"Oh, one more thing I just remembered." Tatsuki started quickly, "Since Ichigo kissed Kuchiki _on the cheek_… you have to do the _other_ kind of kiss!"

"W-what?!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"Y-you didn't say anything about that!" Rukia went on.

Tatsuki waved the camera around playfully, "C'mon you two… hurry it up!"

Ichigo sighed, "Rukia… you don't have to if you don't…"

Rukia shook her head, "No… this still counts as my present Ichigo…" She smiled as she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

_Click… Flash…_

"Alright, that was perfect!" Tatsuki laughed.

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other for a moment before hugging again.

"Merry Christmas Ichigo…"

"Merry Christmas Rukia…"

"Aww, so cute…!" Orihime bubbled.

Renji rolled his eyes as he came up to the two and put his arms around both of them, smiling, "Okay Ichigo, I'll give you the win, this time…"

"Shut up Renji…" Ichigo remarked.

_Click… Flash…_

"Awesome pictures guys!" Tatsuki beamed, "I'm gonna post them on the school's website!"

"Y-you're gonna… what?!" Ichigo exclaimed as the three broke the hug.

"Ahaha… forget I said anything!" Tatsuki smiled hesitantly.

"A-Arisawa, that's not fair…!" Rukia remarked as she, Ichigo, and Renji chased her around the room.

"S-sorry what, I can't hear you Kuchiki-san…" she laughed as she evaded the three. "Hey, when are we gonna give Ishida and Yasutora their gifts?"

"Stop trying to change the subject Tatsuki!" Ichigo yelled.

Tatsuki simply laughed; it was probably the best Christmas she ever witnessed and, though Ichigo and Rukia were preoccupied with chasing her right now, they had to agree. _These were twelve days of Christmas that the two would never forget…_

* * *

Whoa… no way! I'm… I'm actually done! I don't feel like I'm done but I am, right? Anyway (how many times have I used that word… I wonder), I'm happy I got Rukia and Ichigo to kiss twice! IchixRuki and all, you guys understand! I'm sorry for not making an Uryuu/Orihime moment, to the person that had asked for one; but I still hope this chapter had lived up to expectations. Maybe (if I get any really good ideas) I'll post a special "chapter 13" as, like an afterward chapter. You can tell me if you want one or not in a review or PM (preferably a review, thanks). Well, that's my story so I hope everyone enjoyed the ride! Thanks for reading, reviewing, story alerting, and adding it to your favourites! You're all awesome and the reason I kept writing, so thanks!

~Ryu-Takehshi


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